obama. i know that ben used to meet with president bush. so his lunches would happen, just as you say. but the fed's independent. ben considers himself a fiercely independent guy. and by the way, he's got to count votes around that table. so even if the chairman of the federal reserve were persuaded by the arguments of a president, that doesn't end the story. it just begins it. >> but we have had, unfortunately, moments in the past, and the famous story is richard nixon, jawboning arthur burns in 1971, i think, to get money easy, so to pump up the economy, inflate the economy for the '72 election. now, romney in his first year wouldn't have that issue. but could he be -- could romney be persuaded -- let's say the dollar is the issue and romney's advisers are telling him interest rates are so low the dollar is crashing. and you've got to explain that, you've got to tell that to ben bernanke. could he make bernanke bend a wee bit on that? >> so i think ben bernanke's been at this game for a ve